The Avalanche coin (AVAX) (1) and blockchain have exploded in the last year as Ava Labs (2) continues to scale the AVAX ecosystem with new functionality. The AVAX coin is becoming a major threat to the Ethereum (ETH) network thanks to an eco-friendly proof-of-stake model (POS), lightning-fast transaction speeds, low cost, and high security.
What is AVAX?
AVAX is more than a cryptocurrency –– it’s a platform of three interlocking blockchains upon which developers can build dApps, DAOs, and NFTs. AVAX developers can even launch their own AVAX ecosystem coins in order to build specialized blockchains for niche markets, like play-to-earn games and liquidity platforms.
Avalanche launched in September of 2020 with the intention to improve upon Ethereum’s biggest flaws –– slow transactions and high gas fees. At first, AVAX had trouble standing out from other competitors, but it swiftly built momentum by providing easy interoperability with other blockchains.
The Avalanche Bridge
The Avalanche Bridge was developed to help users swiftly and securely move assets off of the Ethereum network onto the Avalanche Contract Chain, the native Avalanche smart contract blockchain. This made it easy for Ethereum developers and crypto enthusiasts to migrate their assets to AVAX without paying exorbitant fees or risking the security of their assets.
AVAX Coin vs Avalanche Network
It’s easy to get confused between the AVAX token and the Avalanche Network. The Avalanche network is a blockchain ecosystem, and the AVAX token is the token used to transact on the platform, create smart contracts, and to participate in platform governance.
Here’s another way to think about it: the Avalanche network is a decentralized evolution of the internet, upon which data can be stored, moved, and tracked. The AVAX token is the currency that users spend in order to use the network, similar to paying an Internet Service Provider. The difference, however, is that no single entity has total control over the development of the network –– it’s a democratic solution to the centralization of the modern web under monopolistic companies like Meta, Google, and Amazon.
AVAX DeFi Projects
The Avalanche network was built primarily with financial applications in mind. Its goal, similar to Ethereum, is to build a better way of using money in the modern world. In centralized finance, national governments and massive private institutions like banks have total control over the money supply. Over time, centralized finance can erode democracy and cause hyperinflation –– two things we can see happening in the world today.
The risks of centralized finance inspired the decentralized finance (DeFi) movement. DeFi began with Ethereum as an evolution of bitcoin. Ethereum built a decentralized, scalable blockchain upon which other ecosystems could be built. However, as blockchain technology improved, several competitors to Ethereum arose, including Cosmos, Polkadot, Cardano, Solana, and Avalanche.
AVAX News
When it comes to AVAX news, AVAX is one of the newest Ethereum competitors, and many are calling it the “Ethereum killer” due to its high efficiency and security and low costs. Many AVAX DeFi projects are being developed on the platform, including several that are migrating from the Ethereum network via the Avalanche Bridge.
AVAX captured a lot of attention when it reached a market capitalization of $30 billion and broke into the top ten cryptocurrencies for the first time. While the price of the coin has fluctuated with the crypto market as a whole, the ecosystem continues to grow larger as developers turn away from other platforms toward the Avalanche blockchain.
AVAX Coin Price Prediction
As the AVAX network grows, so does the AVAX token price. At time of writing, the AVAX token price sits at just over $82. It has a market cap of $20 billion and holds a spot among the top ten cryptocurrencies. The current AVAX coin price prediction is strongly optimistic as the network continues to scale. More developers are migrating to the platform –– especially developers in the DeFi, play-to-earn, and NFT spaces.
Fortunately for crypto investors wanting to know where to buy AVAX, it’s easy to purchase AVAX tokens in many countries all over the world. AVAX is available on many major crypto exchanges along with several decentralized exchanges.
These are some of the best places to purchase AVAX:
- Uphold –– great for people who want to hold a range of assets including crypto, stocks, and more in one place (3)
- Coinbase –– great for crypto novices who want to learn and earn (4)
- Coinbase Pro –– great for seasoned crypto investors who want to trade regularly (5)
- Voyager –– great for long-term crypto investors who want to earn interest on their crypto (6)
- Crypto.com –– great for experienced crypto investors who want to buy, spend, and earn cryptocurrency on a regular basis (7)
- Kraken (8) –– great for crypto investors with some experience who want to learn more
One of the biggest complaints about legacy cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum is their energy-intensive proof-of-work (POW) model. The AVAX blockchain was developed to be faster, safer, more eco-friendly, with a proof-of-stake network that makes it easy to earn AVAX tokens by participating in the network.
Users can easily stake AVAX with the Avalanche Wallet, which is a web-based application that acts as secure storage for assets on the Avalanche network. AVAX staking is possible through either validating transactions on the network or delegating to trusted validators (9). In order to stake, users must make their AVAX available on the Platform Chain (P-Chain). They can then choose to either operate an Avalanche node or delegate to a validator.
AVAX Competitors
Avalanche is just one among several networks competing to replace Ethereum. Some of the most popular AVAX competitors include Solana (SOL), Polygon (MATIC), Near (NEAR), and Tezos (XTZ).
When it comes to understanding AVAX vs Solana, Avalanche and Solana are both networks seeking to improve upon the weaknesses of Ethereum to build a faster, cheaper, and more scalable blockchain for Web3 developers. However, the networks have different aims and aren’t necessarily in direct competition with one another. Both can serve as homes for dApps, DAOs, and more, but they cater to slightly different communities.
Solana is cheaper to use than AVAX, making it the preferred token among many traders and investors interested in DeFi. AVAX is faster, more scalable, and more decentralized than Solana, making it preferred among investors and developers interested in utilizing a scalable platform for smart contracts.
Both tokens have a cap on total supply, low inflation, high utilization, and a place in the top ten global cryptocurrencies. Currently, Solana has a larger user base and holds a higher position on the top ten, but the AVAX ecosystem Coinmarketcap data shows (10) that the network is growing quickly and could possibly outperform Solana in due time. Long-term, both ecosystems are likely to exist side-by-side in the transition to Web3.
As for AVAX vs MATIC, the MATIC ecosystem supports a large number of dApps. It was developed to work easily with Ethereum and help compensate for some of Ethereum’s weaknesses. However, as more altcoins rise to greater dominance, Ethereum’s long-term position is becoming more unstable. If Ethereum loses popularity, MATIC will likely lose popularity as well. With so many developers leaving the ETH ecosystem in favor of AVAX, many investors are increasing their positions in AVAX while decreasing their MATIC holdings.
When comparing NEAR vs Solana, it is important to note that NEAR is an up-and-coming blockchain going head-to-head with Solana. Both blockchains have similar use-cases and end goals, and while Solana currently has a more developed blockchain, a larger user base, and market dominance, NEAR is more technologically advanced and is considered by many to have greater long-term potential for Web3 developers.
Finally, it is worth looking at Tezos vs Solana. Tezos is another blockchain aiming to solve some of Ethereum’s problems. It offers greater accessibility and decentralization than Solana, but significantly lower speed. Many investors are currently holding both tokens as Tezos continues to lay its infrastructure.
AVAX Wallet
The AVAX Wallet app is a fast and secure DeFi wallet for storing crypto assets on the Avalanche blockchain. By storing cryptocurrencies on the AVAX wallet ledger, users can trade assets on DEXs, buy and store NFTs, and much more. The AVAX wallet extension makes it easy to connect an AVAX wallet to Metamask, which gives users the best in security, convenience, and flexibility (11).
The AVAX wallet supports both software and hardware wallets and provides significantly better asset security than holding assets on a crypto exchange. The AVAX wallet is used to control a collection of blockchain addresses for sending and receiving cryptocurrency. These transactions are irreversible, which is why it’s important to closely guard your private keys and to always ensure that you send your crypto to the correct address for every transaction.
To access the AVAX wallet, the user must provide a top-secret 24-word passphrase. It’s important to protect this passphrase from prying eyes, but to keep track of it –– if you lose this passphrase, you permanently lose access to your crypto!
AVAX Coin News
It is beneficial to keep up-to-date on AVAX coin news. The Avalanche network is scaling quickly, allowing more users to participate in the DeFi revolution, and encouraging more developers to get involved and launch even more AVAX projects. Some of the best AVAX projects include Avalaunch (for DeFi fundraising) (12), Trader Joe (a decentralized AVAX exchange for crypto assets) (13), and BenQi (crypto lending platform) (14). Kalao is one of the top AVAX NFT projects –– it’s currently focused on integrating NFTs with virtual reality in a fast, secure NFT marketplace.
Resources
(1) https://www.avax.network/
(2) https://www.avalabs.org/
(3) https://uphold.com/en-us
(4) https://www.coinbase.com/
(5) https://pro.coinbase.com/
(6) https://www.investvoyager.com/
(7) https://crypto.com/
(8) https://www.kraken.com/
(9) https://docs.avax.network/build/tutorials/nodes-and-staking/staking-avax-by-validating-or-delegating-with-the-avalanche-wallet/
(10) https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/avalanche/
(11) https://metamask.io/
(12) https://avalaunch.app/
(13) https://traderjoexyz.com/home#/
(14) https://benqi.fi/
(15) https://www.kalao.io/